The God Complex: Bad Dreams

A lone woman, dressed in a police uniform, crept slowly down the hallway of a hotel that appeared to have come from the 1980s, approaching Room 214. She opened it and spotted a clown sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a single red balloon, turning his head to look at her, before she shut it and continued on. Feeling a...tug...towards a room, but she didn't know which one...

~8~

"My name is Lucy Hayward, and I'm the last one left."

~8~

Lucy opened Room 215, seeing a man with an old-fashioned tripod camera, flashing a picture at her right as she closed the door and headed to the next room.

~8~

"You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realize it could have never been anything else."

~8~

She opened the door to Room 216 to hear a toilet flushing and the bathroom door opened. Her eyes widened in fear as a gorilla stepped out with a roll of toilet paper in its hand. She screamed and backed out of the room, slamming the door shut in the process. Voices whispered 'Praise Him' in her head, echoing over and over as she fell back against the wall across the hall and slid to the floor. She pulled out a notepad and wrote quickly.

~8~

"The gaps between my worship are getting shorter. This is what happened to the others. Praise him. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him. Praise him."

~8~

She closed her eyes, a soft smile now on her face when she heard a growling and the thudding of heavy footsteps getting louder and nearer. She jumped up and spotted a large shadow at the end of the hall, dropping her notes as she smiled.

~8~

"Praise him."

~8~

Something rushed at Lucy and there was a scream...

~8~

The Doctor popped his head over the railing of a stairwell, looking down at Amy and Rory who looked up at him, Angel just a flight below them, but not looking up as the Ponds were. Instead she was staring down across the staircase, at the halls, frowning at the architecture. It looked like a 1980s hotel of sorts.

"'Let's go to Ravan-Skala,' he says," Amy muttered, "'The people are 600 feet tall, you have to talk to them in hot air balloons, and the Tourist Information Center is made of one of their hats,' he says. I'm sorry, but I don't see any huge hats."

It wasn't even that they were going because the people were so tall...well, actually that was part of it. It wasn't because of the hot air balloons or the tourist center, but because Ravan-Skalites were said to have the best vision and hearing in their galaxy. It was said that they could see onto distant worlds and across the galaxy even. The fact that the Time Lords were determined to visit in order to ask the natives if they might have possibly seen a little girl or heard of one on other planets was proof that they were getting a bit desperate. But they all understood, the Time Lords wanted to be careful, they wanted to make sure that everywhere they went they could try to find Ayla. That everywhere they went, there was a chance of someone who might be able to help them.

"Amy," the Doctor sighed, coming up between them, "Beaky. This could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen!"

He knew he shouldn't be getting so excited about it, it was actually rather irritating what had happened. They'd been in flight, on the way to the planet of the giants, when they'd been forcibly pulled off course and landed here. And he had been irritated, furious even, not only that something had tried to take the TARDIS, something that had NEVER ended well for them in the past, but that it had interrupted their quest to find Ayla.

But he was trying very hard to try and not let it get to him, he was trying to be more like Angel, trying to, well, find the good in the bad. He was irritated, yes, it was a rubbish hotel, yes, but...it WAS interesting. And...the only good he could see in it was that...it would be a very interesting place to take Ayla when they found her again. It was curious and interesting and really quite a wonder to behold and maybe it could be added to the list of all the places he one day wanted to take his daughter to, WHEN they found her.

He refused to think IF. No, IF was NOT a possibility. Not with him and Angel working at it, not with the Ponds there, not with the rest of the family to help them find their daughter again.

That was really the only way he could remain even half-calm about being there and not in the TARDIS, flying through the Universe, trying to find Ayla again. It was the one good in the bad that he could see. And that actually...helped quite a bit. He'd been trying to do that a lot lately, find the good in the bad, try to show Angel the good in the bad whenever they ended up somewhere that Ayla wasn't. Ever since they'd gone to Torchwood to drop off Amy-O, ever since he'd learned how badly Angel had felt, he'd been so determined to make her remember the good that was still out there.

He knew she remembered it, she always found the good, always held onto it, but he knew that it couldn't always happen. It was almost impossible for someone to only see the good, to only feel good, that everyone had bad days, and all he could do was remind Angel that he was still there for her, that he ALWAYS would be, and that as long as she knew that, they would be ok. SHE would be ok. She had always helped him see the good in things, the light in the dark, and now it was HIS turn.

"You're kidding," Rory looked at him, not understanding what was so great about the place as Angel walked up to join them.

"How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?" Amy asked.

"Because, assembled Ponds, this is not Earth," he said, "This has just been made to look like Earth. The craftsmanship involved...can you imagine?"

"What? Then where are we?"

They walked back down a floor where the TARDIS was resting against a wall where potted plants and framed photos were hanging on the wall around it. Amy looked at Angel, of the two aliens she would probably have a better idea of where they were.

"I don't know," Angel sighed, seeing the look, all she could tell was that they were drifting…

"Something yanked us off course," the Doctor determined, "Look at the detail on that cheese plant!" he walked over to it and deeply inhaled the leaf.

"Right, but who would mock up an Earth hotel?" Rory shook his head.

The Doctor picked up an apple from a bowl that was sitting on a table beside the plant, "Colonists maybe, recreating a bit of home, like when ex-pats open English pubs in Majorca," he took a bite of it, "No, whoever did this, I am shaking his/her hand/tentacle."

It was also giving him ideas for more rooms on the TARDIS, play rooms for Ayla that were themed. Play rooms made in different periods of time, different worlds, or! Perhaps one room that could change into whatever Ayla wanted! Yes, that would be a wonderful room to have the TARDIS make, one that could tap into the telepathic circuits and create what Ayla wanted the room to be. Usually the TARDIS would take one thought for a room, like when a companion needed a bedroom, and remain that way forever, but a room that changed depending on what their daughter wanted...he could just imagine the look on her face whenever she entered it, the wide smile, the light in her eyes...

For some reason, thinking on her, he could only imagine a little girl who looked just like Angel, like a little Angel, because really...he WANTED that. He wanted a little Angel, he wanted their daughter to be just like her, completely her. Because...he didn't want any child of theirs to have the darkness that was in him. And Angel was lovely.

'I'd...' he heard Angel begin in his mind, looking over to see her blushing a bit at all the thoughts he was having, 'I'd actually like her to have your smile though,' she finished, 'I love your grin.'

He smiled, walking closer to her, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a squeeze at that, the Ponds not even noticing as they looked at the photos more intently, 'And my grin,' he nodded against her head, 'Though I DO love your smile too,' he pulled away, smiling when he saw her start to smile at him too, 'There it is,' he grinned widely, leaning forward to rest his forehead to hers...

"Have you seen these?" Rory called, pulling their attention over to see him frowning as he looked at the photos of varying species, all seeming to be posed the same and wearing the same outfits, "Look at the labels underneath," he pointed to a Sontaran, "'Commander Halke, defeat,'" and then a human, "'Tim Heath, having his photo taken,'" and a woman, "'Lady Silver-Tear...Daleks.'"

"'Paige Barnes, other people's socks,'" Amy read, "'Tim Nelson, balloons.'"

Angel paused, coming to join them, her hand in the Doctor's as he followed her, looking at a cat-nun, "'Novice Prin, saberwolves,'" and then a human, "'Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth,'" she frowned, stopping at the last picture of a young woman, and reached out to touch the picture, "'Lucy Hayward...that brutal gorilla.'"

The Doctor looked between Angel and the photo, seeing her frowning intently at it, a look on his face he knew meant that she felt something was important about it even if she didn't know what.

"Doctor, what does it mean?" Amy turned to him.

"I don't know," he openly admitted before nodding, "Let's find out," the sooner they found out what was going on and why they were there, the sooner they could fix it or stop it or help it and get back to their quest.

~8~

The Doctor tapped a bell on the desk in reception...when three people ran around the corner, one of them, a lovely Indian woman, brandishing a chair leg at the Doctor while a young boy in glasses with black curly hair had a stick, and a mole-like humanoid alien waved a white handkerchief up and down in surrender. The Doctor spun around and quickly pulled Angel behind him, away from the chair leg that had come dangerously close to her head.

"Blimey, that was quick," he muttered.

"We surrender!" the mole man shouted.

"No, it's ok, we're not…we're nice!" Rory tried.

"She threatened me with a chair leg," the Doctor pointed at the woman with one hand, his other holding Angel's tightly as he glanced back over his shoulder at her, though he had to smile when Angel shook her head and rested her forehead to his back. He could feel it, she'd been surprised at the sudden appearance, one of the few things she didn't see coming.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded.

"We're back in reception," the young man muttered, startled.

Angel frowned, peeking around the Doctor's shoulder to look at him curiously, before slowly moving to the Doctor's side, him squeezing her hand to make sure that she didn't walk too far away, still not sure about the three before him...especially the woman still waving the chair leg and not seeming to care who she hit.

"We surrender!" the mole man called again.

"Never been threatened with a chair leg before," the Doctor muttered to Amy and Rory.

Angel squeezed his hand, "What about that trip to the Clandestine Empire?"

He winced, rubbing his head, "No, I tell a lie."

"Rule 1 in action," Angel remarked.

Amy, though, paused and turned to Rory, "Did you just say, 'It's ok, we're nice?'"

"Ok, I need everyone to shut up, now!" the Indian woman shouted.

"Rita, be careful, yeah?" the young man called as Rita approached the quartet, her chair leg lowered for the moment.

"Their pupils are dilated," she assessed, stepping back to the boy's side, "They're as surprised as we are. Besides which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something."

"Oh, you're good," the Doctor smiled, "Oh, she's good. Amy, with regret, you're fired."

"What?" Amy looked at him.

"He's kidding," Angel reassured her.

The Doctor just looked at Rita and mimed holding a phone, whispering, "We'll talk," to her before glancing at the Mole Man, "I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender, you're from Tivoli?"

"Yes, the most invaded planet in the galaxy," the Tivolian smiled, "Our anthem is called 'Glory To...Insert Name Here.'"

"You with the face…" the Doctor pointed at the boy.

"Howie," Angel whispered to him, shocking the boy a bit at how she knew that.

"Howie," he nodded, "You said you were surprised to be back in reception."

"The walls move, everything changes," Howie muttered.

"You, clever one, what's he talking about?" the Doctor asked Rita as he turned back to the front desk, letting go of Angel's hand for the moment, seeing no danger from the trio any longer.

"The hall can get shorter and longer and move," Angel answered for the woman instead, looking at the trio intently, "The rooms can disappear in one place and reappear in another, can't they?"

The trio turned to look at her, shocked, "How do you know that?" Rita asked her suspiciously.

"Psychic," the Doctor walked over to her, slowly putting an arm around Angel's shoulders.

"Thief," she countered, giving him a small smile.

She'd noticed this Doctor, whilst he did tend to hold her hand less than his last self did, he seemed fond of putting an arm around her, around her waist or her shoulders or holding her close from behind. And she knew it was his doing and something HE wanted to do because. after their talk. she'd also noticed him hesitate only a second whenever he wanted to touch her in a way that he used to before. Sometimes he would follow through and continue, touch her like that, but other times he might change the way he'd wanted to touch her and hold her in a different way. It grew less and less noticeable, him pausing, as though he himself were coming to terms with what HE wanted to do and not what his last self had done before.

Rita just shook her head, not bothering to ask about that, she'd seen FAR too many strange things in this hotel, the alien standing beside her being proof enough that, if HE could exist, maybe psychics could too, "It's like the hotel's alive."

The Doctor leaned over the main desk and switched off the music that had been playing, "That's quite enough of that."

"And it's huge, with, like, no way out," Howie added.

"Have you tried the front door?" Rory gestured to the doors behind them.

"No, in two days it never occurred to us to try the front door," Rita replied sarcastically, "Thank God you're here!"

The Doctor scanned the door with the sonic as Angel walked beside it and felt the walls. Amy laughed at Rita's comment, when the Doctor threw open the doors to reveal...a white brick wall, "They're not doors, they're walls, walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or 'dwalls,' 'woors' even, though you'd probably got it when you said, 'They're not doors.' I mean, the windows are..." he opened the curtains to reveal more wall, "Right big day if you're a fan of walls," he sighed, looking at Angel, "Could you lead us out?"

She paused a moment, thinking, sensing where they were, before shaking her head, "The feelings are shifting too much with the rooms, I could try but there's nothing to say that once we reached an exit it wouldn't shift to another room. I..." she frowned a moment, concentrating, "I might be able to lead to rooms but...not an exit."

He nodded, that made sense, whatever it was that was keeping them there wouldn't want them to escape, and if the other rooms weren't exits there was nothing to keep Angel from going to THEM.

"It's not just that," Rita cut in, "The rooms have...things in them."

"Things?" the Doctor grinned, "Hello! What kind of things? Interesting things? I love things, ask anyone."

Rita glanced at the others before answering, "Bad dreams."

"Well..." he blinked, starting to frown, "That killed the mood. How did you get here?"

"I don't know, I'd just started my shift. I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here."

"I was blogging, next thing, this," Howie added.

"Oh, I was at work, I'm in town planning," the Tivolian stated, "We're lining all the highways with trees, so invading forces can march in the shade."

"Ah," the Doctor nodded.

"Which is nice for them."

"Yeah…so what have we got?" the Doctor walked forward towards the reception desk, "People being snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms," he snatched a Rubick's Cube off the counter, "Well apart from anything else, that's just rude."

"Though far less jarring than a transmat beam eh?" Angel joked a bit before her smile faded slightly.

However the Doctor nodded, "Satellite Five, oh," he shook his head, looking around, "This is much more realistic than that Big Brother House…" and then he noticed her smiling softly at him, her eyes shining, an expression he'd seen once or twice before when he mentioned past trips, "What?"

"Nothing," she blushed, looking away.

He walked over to her, curling a finger as he lifting her chin to look at him, "What is it?" he searched her eyes for an answer.

"It's…nice," she replied quietly, "To hear you talking about old adventures."

He blinked, smiling softly at her, he knew what she was really saying. He couldn't count the number of times she'd made a reference to a past adventure that either the two of them had shared or a small moment between the two of them during one of their companioned journeys that he'd not gotten due to the forgetfulness that had plagued him or that his mind had invented an alternate memory of. He knew that just hearing him recalling them correctly gave her peace of mind, a little bit more, day by day, that he really had remembered and wasn't going to forget.

"It's nice to see you smiling when I talk about them," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her gently.

Rita, Howie, and the Tivolian exchanged a look at that, before glancing at the Ponds, who could only shake their heads with soft smiles on their faces, not willing to interrupt the moment, knowing how important they were to both the Doctor and Angel.

~8~

The Doctor was leading the way up the stairs, towards the floor they'd left the TARDIS on, "We'll pop back to the TARDIS, I'll do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, then we'll have a sing song…" he trailed off when they got to the floor only to see no TARDIS. He frowned and started feeling for the box in case she'd turned herself invisible just to spite him for their latest adventure even though it wasn't his fault, something had pulled them there.

"Where's the TARDIS?" Amy asked, looking at Angel, who could only shake her head, before she turned to the Doctor, "You parked it there, didn't you?"

"What's a TARDIS?" Howie asked.

"Our way out," Rory sighed, "And it's gone," he rubbed a hand over his face in exasperation.

"I don't know where she is exactly," Angel said in thought as she looked at the Doctor, biting her lip a moment as she sensed for the box, "But she's alright for now."

The Doctor nodded but paused when he realized, somehow, the music had turned on once more, "Ok. This is bad. At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk, and eight quid in a taxi from good…" he looked at Angel, taking her hand, his thumb absently stroking over her knuckles, "Do you think you could teleport out of here, get somewhere safe?"

She frowned, "And leave you behind?"

They had recently discovered that she could use the Vortex to teleport quite a distance away without harming herself too much, but only on her own, without passengers. The more people there were the harder it was to do. They'd tried to see if the same teleport notion might apply to time as well as space, like...time travel without a pod...given that she had been able to teleport back 12 minutes during the Pandorica incident. But they quickly realized, history was shrinking at that point so teleporting back 12 minutes then was far easier than doing so now. The last time she'd attempted even a few seconds well, it hadn't ended well and left her with a crippling headache for days.

Perhaps with time it would be possible, but right now, she couldn't. And even then...

"I'm not leaving you," she shook her head.

"Please," he whispered, reaching up his free hand to touch her cheek, "I want you safe," he gently traced her cheek with a finger, "You're a mother now…"

"And I was pregnant when I got shot by a Dalek," she reminded him, making him wince at the reminder of just how close they'd come to losing Ayla then. He'd realized, quite quickly, that the pain Angel had been in, that terrible pain, wasn't JUST from the shot, but from...their daughter having been hit and hurt as well, "I'll be fine," she squeezed his hand, making him look at her again, "And besides," she offered him a smile, "You're a father now too so if you're staying, you'd be a hypocrite to send me away."

He couldn't help but smile gently at that reminder. He was a father. He was a father again. He nodded, squeezing her hand back, before turning to look at Rita, Howie, and the Tivolian, "Are there any more of you?"

Rita glanced at Howie from where she was standing on the stairs, before answering, "Joe, but he's tied up right now."

"Doing what?"

"No, I mean he's...tied up right now."

~8~

They entered the dining room of the hotel to see a man with short, slightly curly hair, tied up on a chair at one of the tables, surrounded by identical old-fashioned ventriloquist dummies, all laughing, with their heads bobbing up and down, table upon table full of them. The Doctor slowly entered, followed by Angel and the rest. The dummies stopped and, as one, turned to stare at him, all twisting their necks to watch him. He gestured for Angel to stay back with Amy and Rory, to protect them, as he took a step in.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted as he made his way towards Joe's table, "I'm the Doctor."

"You're going to die here," Joe stated, looking at the Doctor with a slightly dazed, almost crazed look in his eye.

"Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure. Is Joe there? Can I have a quick word?" he moved to get a chair and set it down across from Joe.

"Oh, it's still me, Doctor, but I've seen the light. I lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon...he shall feast," he said it all so...simply, as though he were just commenting on the weather.

"Well, you've been here two days, what's he waiting for?"

"We weren't ready. We were still raw."

"But now you're what? Cooked?"

"If you like. Soon you will be, too," the Doctor frowned, spotting a horseshoe clip on Joe's tie and dice cufflinks, "Be patient. First..." he nodded at the door, "Find your room."

The Doctor looked around, slightly confused, "My room..."

"There's a room here for everyone Doctor," Joe turned his gaze back to the man across from him, "Even you…" before it drifted to Angel, standing by Rory and Amy, "And your Mate," the Doctor tensed, hearing a threat in there instead of a statement, "He is quite...eager...for her to find her room," he started to grin, "She has such an exquisite fear, so complex, yet so simple, so powerful, and so human…"

The Doctor looked over at Angel, as did the rest of the group, but she just looked down.

"She could feed him for centuries," Joe laughed.

The Doctor frowned, the familiar sensation that Angel was hiding something from him spreading through him. He cast a glance at Joe before getting up and walking over to Angel, gently tugging her to the side just a bit, though it afforded them little privacy given all the tables around, they couldn't really move that far away.

"What's he talking about?" he whispered to her, looking her in the eye.

"I'm not sure," Angel replied, though she looked to the side.

"Angel…" he began.

"It could be anything Doctor," she defended.

He frowned, "Like what?"

She very nearly rolled her eyes at him, "Like you dying," she pointed out, "Or Amy dying, or Rory dying…again…or any member of my family dying, or the TARDIS exploding, or Ayla turning into River, or Daleks…anything."

The Doctor blinked, feeling his hearts drop into his stomach. He should have known what her biggest fears were, any one of them could be what was in her room. But…just the fact that she was terrified of that many things when she shouldn't be afraid of anything, because she should have felt safe with him there. He truly was failing in his duty as a Mate in protecting her and keeping her safe…

He shook his head before she could catch his thoughts and glanced at Joe, sighing before squeezing Angel's hand once more. Fear was...tricky, fear wasn't something you could talk about and instantly be ok with, and it was NOT something to be discussed in front of everyone, 'We'll talk later,' he promised her in his mind.

Angel gave him a small nod and he turned to head back to Joe, "You said you'd seen the light now."

Joe nodded, "Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things," he looked at the dummies, "I used to hate them! They make me laugh now," he started laughing maniacally, "Gottle o' geer, Gottle o'geer," he chortled before laughing more, all the dummies bobbing up and down as they laughed as well, creating a very eerie setting.

Angel bit her lip before snapping her fingers, creating a golden spark between them, and all the Dummies heads fell off by the necks in a flash of gold. The group looked at her, stunned, as Joe stopped laughing, "Sorry," she mumbled, the sound was starting to rub her the wrong way.

"You should go if you want to protect your Mate," Joe whispered to the Doctor, "He'll be here soon."

The Doctor gave him a thin smile before standing and grabbing a hand dolly, sliding it under Joe's chair, "I think you should come with me."

~8~

The music was still playing as they wheeled Joe into reception and set him down. The Doctor, Amy, Rory, Angel, and Rita standing on the guest side of the counter while Howie and the Tivolian stood behind it with Joe.

"Why you four?" the Doctor wondered aloud, "That's what I don't understand. Aside from all the other things I don't understand," he leaned forward and switched the music off again.

"What does it matter?" the Tivolian sighed, "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us. Or enslave us."

"First, we find the TARDIS. Quick thing before we go. If you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in, and make sure someone else can see you at all times."

Rita leaned forward and spoke quietly, "Joe said 'he' will feast. Is there something here with us?"

Joe laughed and the Doctor turned to him, "Something to add, Joe?"

'"Here comes a candle to light you to bed," he recited, "Here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Chop, chop, chop, chop.'"

"Can we do something about him?" Howie asked them as Joe just laughed.

~8~

The Tivolian was wheeling Joe down a hall, now with his mouth taped shut, as the Doctor led the way with Angel, the rest following behind them. He paused and turned when he realized they'd changed directions and kept on.

"Personally, I think you've got the right idea," the Tivolian told Joe, "Times like this, I think of my old school motto, 'Resistance Is Exhausting.'"

"I've worked out where we are," Howie told Rory.

"Hmm?" Rory looked at him.

"Norway."

"Norway?"

"You see, the U.S. government has entire cities hidden in the Norwegian mountains. Earth is on a collision course with this other planet, and this is where they're going to send all the rich people when it kicks off."

"Amazing."

"It's all there on the internet."

"No, it's amazing you've come up with a theory even more insane than what's actually happening."

Just then the door to Room 158 opened and a PE teacher stepped out in front of the Doctor, "Hello," the Doctor greeted, eyeing the man tensely, not sure what he would do.

"Have you forgotten your PE kit again?" the man asked as everyone stopped to watch, "Right, that's it, you're doing it in your pants!" he turned and headed back into the room, shutting it behind him.

The Doctor frowned at that, but spun around when he heard Angel gasp...

...Joe stood in the hall, his arms wide out, a dark shadow rushing towards him...

...Howie stumbled into a hall, laughing insanely as he ran towards a creature at the end of the corridor...

...Rita turned, grinning, throwing her head back as she let something attack her...

Angel spun around, not even noticing the Doctor turn to her at the vision she'd just seen, to see Howie reaching for a door, "Howie no!" she ran over, trying to keep him from opening it, but it was too late.

The door was open.

Inside were a gaggle of young beautiful women around college age who laughed when they saw him standing there.

"Oh, look, girls, it's H-H-H-Howie!" one of the girls laughed, forcing a stutter.

"What's 'loser' in K-K-K-Klingon?" another girl mocked.

Howie started breathing heavily, hearing 'Praise Him' echoing in his mind.

"Howie," Angel's voice cut through the echoes and he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at Angel who had seemed to have appeared at his side and then backed away from the door.

"Shut the d-d...th-the door!" he stammered and the Doctor quickly moved to close it, having rushed after Angel when she'd run at Howie, "This is just some m-m-messed-up CIA stuff, I-I-I'm telling you."

"Howie," Angel put a hand on his arm, worried, especially from what she'd seen in her vision, "Calm down," she told him gently, seeing him getting worked up and frustrated, "Now...take a deep breath," he did, "Feel better?" she asked him, rubbing his arm, he looked at her, seeing genuine concern on her face, and nodded, "Good," she smiled.

The Doctor walked over and put an arm around Howie's shoulders as well, patting him on the chest and tugging him just a tiny bit, not out of Angel's hold at all, no, not at all, Angel just...wasn't touching the boy because it was HIS turn to comfort him, yes, that was it, "You're right, keep telling yourself that. It's a CIA thing, nothing more."

They walked off, back down the hall, Rory and the Doctor on either side of Howie with Angel behind him...when he heard a growling and looked back over his shoulder.

Curious, the Doctor did as well.

Angel stepped forward and took the Doctor's place next to Howie, not quite believing that Howie really felt better, "Oh and Howie?" she pulled his attention forward again, "If it helps, even though I don't know the word in Klingon, I think you're a winner."

Howie smiled a bit at that before starting to talk about Klingon and giving her a brief translation of what winner was in the language and even a bit of history on the species...the Doctor watching with a soft smile as he saw Angel listening with rapt attention, clearly knowing that having the boy talk about something he clearly liked to talk about would calm him down even more.

~8~

The Doctor had his hand on the wall, feeling the wallpaper, as Angel did the same ahead of him. He tapped the light sconces and felt the plaster where it was scrapped off of a low beam. Amy frowned, spotting notes on the floor and crouched down to pick them up. Rory paused to tie his shoe and spotted a fire exit door across the hall.

"Er...guys?" Rory called.

"Look," Amy picked up the notes...when suddenly there was a growl. Joe strained against his bonds to get to the noise while Amy looked alarmed, "Ok, whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?"

"No, no, I'm sure it isn't," the Doctor agreed, but cast a slightly panicked look at Angel, who shook her head that it was, in fact, VERY real, "But just in case, let's run away and hide anyway," he looked around and opened a random room, "In here."

The Doctor pulled Angel and Amy towards a room, shoving Howie into it with the Tivolian while Joe were pulled into another room by Rita, "No, this way!" Rory called, "I've found a..." he trailed off, seeing the fire exit had disappeared.

"Rory!" Angel called, pulling away from the Doctor to rush over to Rory, pulling him back to the room the Doctor had rushed into, having no time to stop Rita and Joe as they slammed their door shut.

~8~

Rita turned around from the door, only to see an older Indian man in a doctor's lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck standing there, holding papers, "A B in mathematics?! You are lazy!" Rita's eyes widened as she pursed her lips and stumbled back to sit on the bed, "Do you understand me, girl? Lazy!"

"I'm sorry daddy, I'm so sorry!" she started to cry, hearing 'Praise Him' echoing in her mind.

~8~

Rory and Angel ran into the room, the Doctor slamming the door behind them and turned, only to come to a stop behind Amy and Howie, flinching back with a cry of "Aiiee!" at the sight of two Weeping Angels in the room before them, Amy staring them down.

"Don't...blink," Amy muttered.

"What?" Howie frowned, confused.

The lights flickered and the Tivolian cowered in the cupboard.

The angels changed position, arms stretched out, faces morphed to attack as the Doctor tried to pull Amy back, "Amy, get back. Angel!"

"Got it," Angel nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating. A moment later the Vortex energy swirled around her, creating a glow in the room, enough light to see the angels, creating a light they couldn't flicker off, letting them see the statues.

The Doctor frowned, looking at them, "Why haven't they got us yet?" he asked, stepping forward. He put a finger out and it went through one of the angels, "Amy, they're not real."

"What?" Amy breathed.

"They should have got us by now," he walked back to Amy, "Amy, look at me, focus on me. It's your bad dream, that's all."

"I don't even think they're for us," Rory remarked as he glanced at the Tivolian in the cupboard, who screamed and slammed the door shut, clearly more terrified than Amy was.

"Shhh…" Angel whispered and they fell quiet, "Listen…"

They paused, hearing a growling in the distance.

The Doctor turned and headed towards the door, "Doctor, what are you doing?" Amy hissed.

"I'm sorry, I just have to see what it is," he replied, he needed to know what it was, to know what they were up against, so he could figure out how to protect Angel...and the others, "I just have to see," he walked to the door and looked through the peephole as a shadow passed before the door, "Oh, look at you...you are beautiful, not as beautiful as my Mate though," he watched as a minotaur like beast turned its head towards their door and he jumped back, "Oh, dear."

~8~

Joe struggled against his bonds, trying to get out into the hall, he could hear Him there. As he stilled the ropes loosened of their own accord and fell to the floor. He looked at his freed hands a moment before pulling the tape from his mouth and dashing for the door. He staggered out into the hallway.

~8~

The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw the creature before him turn, seeing something in the hallway, "I think he's going after Joe…" he breathed.

"Come to me…" they could hear Joe call from the hallway.

Angel jumped forward, heading to the door, when the Doctor grabbed her arm, "Where are you going?"

"I can help him," she turned to he Doctor.

"Come to me…" Joe pleaded.

"Help or…" he trailed off, swallowing hard, unable to help worrying this might be like with Amy-O.

"Help," she reaffirmed, "Doctor, I'm the only one who can get to him and get him out in time," they could hear stomping as the creature turned, "Please."

He nodded quickly, kissing her deeply, "Go," he urged her.

She nodded, "Meet in the dining room," and disappeared in a swirl of gold.

"Praise him!" Joe shouted and the Doctor ran to the door, peering through the peephole to see Angel appear behind Joe in a crackle of golden energy, grabbing the man's arm and disappearing with him just as the minotaur-like creature ran through where they'd been standing and kept going.

He threw open the door and ran out, "Head to the dining room," he shouted back over his shoulder before racing after the monster.

He dashed around a corner and stopped at a four-way intersection, unsure which way to go as the monster had all but disappeared. He quickly turned, trying to look down each hall before running down one hall until he reached the staircase again. He sighed, rubbing his face, this was just like the Trickster at Sarah Jane's wedding all over again.

~8~

Amy sighed once more as she paced the dining room, growing impatient. Rita and Rory were kneeling by Joe as he lay prone on the floor, Angel having reassured them he was only unconscious, that she'd knocked him out till they could help him, not wanting to risk him trying to hurt them or run out to get to that monster thing again, but it didn't stop the two nurses from checking to make sure he was ok or try to see if they could figure out why the man had been so out of sorts.

"You alright?" Angel asked, coming over to Amy as the Tivolian, who they'd learned was named Gibbis, and Howie sat at a table, both fidgeting nervously.

"The Doctor ought to have been here by now," Amy remarked, "What if he's in trouble?"

"He's not, I'd sense it."

"We should go find him," she turned to Angel, "Even if the rooms change, if he's in the hallway, eventually we should find him yeah? You could lead us to him?"

"I could," Angel admitted hesitantly, "But…I don't think I should leave this room."

"Why?"

"You see that door," she nodded at the open doors of the dining room, unbarricaded till the Doctor arrived. There was one door just outside it before the hallway turned into a corner. Well, there were a few, but ones that were labeled 'kitchen' and 'boiler room' and others, but...one actuall ROOM.

"Room 1," Amy nodded, "What about it?"

Angel took a breath, letting it out, "That's my room Amy."

Amy frowned, "How do you know?" Angel gave her a pointed look, "Right, psychic," she paused a moment, thinking of something before turning to Angel, "Do you want me to go with you? Look in it?"

"I don't think that's a good idea…"

"Oh come on, aren't you a little bit curious what your worst fear is? And you won't be alone, I'll be there. I'll pull you back if something happens," she laughed a bit, "Finally, I get a chance to save you eh."

Angel couldn't help but smile at Amy before nodding. As bad as the rooms were, as much as she knew that what was in them had likely been what had affected Joe, she also knew...the only way to overcome a fear was to face it. And she had been honest with the Doctor, she truly didn't know what her worst fear was...well...that was a half-truth, she was fairly certain what it was, but...all the others she'd mentioned...were rather big ones.

Amy grinned and turned back to Rory, "Rory!" he looked up, "Angel's gonna try to lead me to the Doctor, we'll bring him back."

Rory frowned, "What if he gets here before you found him?" Angel gave him a pointed look as well, "Right, you'd know and head back," he sighed, not really wanting them to leave without him, but looking at the room, he should probably stay there and keep an eye on the trio, he'd seen Angel casting a few glances at them and knew that there might be something...off about them. He wanted to keep an eye on them, make sure they didn't end up like Joe, "Hurry back."

"Thanks!" Amy quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and they walked out of the dining room, Amy making sure to shut the doors behind them so Rory wouldn't see them sneaking a peek into Angel's room. They walked the few feet down the hallway and came to a stop before the door, staring at it, at the '1' etched out in the plate on it, "You ready?"

Angel just took a breath and opened the door, pushing it so it opened all the way, allowing them to both see into the room without entering.

Amy's eyes widened…

A/N: ...I'm evil, I know, -shakes fist- cliffhangers! Lol ^-^ But fluff! There was fluff! ;)

Just wanted to say, sorry! I had a small typo in my last A/N, I meant to say that, I'd consider talking a little more on how Angel could forget forever but not long at all, not who :)

And I wanted to put this here too that...the last chapter, I received a few very touching messages about and I wanted to just let you all know how much I love you guys and how important each and every reader is to me. You really do mean the world to me and, if there's ever anything that anyone wants to talk about or if you need someone to talk to or someone to listen or anything, feel free to message me or tumblr me or anything. I'll always be here for you guys and do my best to help anyone in any way I can ;)

Also, I was originally going to have a 'sneak peek' OC introduction for my Star Trek (Spock/OC) story here, but that'll be in tomorrow's chapter (sorry!) :)

Some notes on reviews...

Lol, that's ok :) I think Mating's sweet, you think it's obsessive, and that's alright. Everyone has their own opinion and that's cool :) Though, this story will feature Mating as it is so there are probably other stories out there better than this one to read, because Mating won't be changing :) I'd rather have people read things they enjoy than things they don't like, so I'll never fault anyone for stopping reading a story of mine if they don't like it :)

Oh you have to love Spock ;)

Aww thanks! I'm glad the story was able make a bit of an impact and help out a little :) I'm excited for this episode because a lot will come to light in it :) It might be something you expect behind his doors, but then again...it might not }:) Sorry! That was a typo (thanks for pointing it out!) I meant to say how she forgot, not who lol :)

Oh, I couldn't put Clara with Jack, just because I love Ianto too much :) But I can say Clara may come up in a familial way, but with a new sort of little twist to it ;)

The next few episodes for this story (what I consider to be Series 6) are...God Complex, Closing Time, TWORS, and The Widow Christmas episode, with a mini-sode/prequel here and there :)

Lol, we probably won't be seeing Angel and the Doctor meet Team Freewill nope, but I'm definitely going to be doing a SuperWhoLock involving the Professor though ;)

Yup, Ayla is regenerating, she'll definitely survive the regeneration, but it'll depend on who finds her (the Silence or her parents) in terms of if she'll survive past that }:) But I can say, no, Clara isn't Ayla, but I DO have an AU series planned as a 'what if Clara WAS Ayla' thing ;) I think it would depend on when she went to Sarah Jane if Ayla would be with them or if Angel worked out she was a Ganger or not ;) It would depend on when it all goes down about whether Angel would forgive, the same for the Silence and River, like...if she left but at a later point River might not be conceived still sort of thing :)

Nope, Ayla isn't Clara :) I DO have an AU series planned as a 'what if she was?' thing though ;)

I'm curious as to who will be the 13th Doctor too, if they'll go older or younger than PC :) It's hard to believe she had one, I agree :( But she'll definitely be getting better :) I can't say whether that'll be the reason she forgets or not though ;) There might be a happy ending, the Angel we see in Sneak Peeks seemed pretty happy in the Christmas special ;)

Jack and the Team came in as an original scene, they weren't in the episode, the Doctor piloted the TARDIS to Jack as he was the first person he could think of to help while Angel was trying to maintain the paradox :)

I like that Angel saves people, even one or two who probably shouldn't have been (like Lance) :) We'll have to wait and see how she has permanent/yet temporary amnesia ;) TAOSAT will be updated the 7th/8th, AAO on the 14th/15th, IYC on the 21st/22nd, and Recollections on the 30th/31st of each month. I'll try to get some more chapters up beyond just those dates, but it'll depend on time, I can definitely promise those dates though, so we should be seeing Recollections updated today ;)

Oh we'll be finding out his greatest fear very soon }:) And thanks, I definitely didn't want it to be an instant healing thing for Angel, she'll still have a lot to work through and recover from :) I can say that the title for TWORS won't include 'wedding' but WILL include 'River Song' but I won't say what it'll be ;)

I think she'll do well too :) Now that she's free and can do what she likes and see what she likes, I think she'd be an asset to Torchwood (or UNIT) given what she knows of time now :) I can say they'll definitely be talking about the loss of Ayla, especially the bargain ;) And River will definitely come up again yup, and his reasons for his feelings for River will be…well, I can't say, that'll be a surprise ;) I'm going to miss 11 too, in a way…I'm sort of annoyed he got time off-screen, but mostly because (according to something I read somewhere that Moffat said) THAT was when the relationship between the Doctor and River really happened, that he had quite a few adventures with her. I feel like…in Moffat's mind, he knows the adventures they had during that 200 year time, but WE didn't see it, so…to Moffat that wedding made sense, but to us it felt cheap :( I would have liked to see that develop more (even though I DON'T like River with the Doctor) just so it felt more natural. I don't usually ship companions with the Doctor, but in comparison to River, I feel like Clara developed a more natural potential relationship with 11 than River did because we got to see it happen :) I'm not sure about Gray and Jenny/Ayla though, mostly because they see (or Ayla would have seen) Gray as an uncle already (there'll actually be an original chapter in Series 7 where Jenny calls them uncle too, so that might just be my own foreknowledge of the series coming in). I don't think Angel would hold it against them either, nope…but I can say that Jenny…is actually married ;) But we won't find out to who for a while }:) We'll definitely be seeing more of Gray to come ;) Lol, I've heard that about the shoe thing, and I can say…you're reading my mind, because we might just see the Ganger Doctor in Series 7 ^-^ I'm pretty excited for that moment, but I won't say why }:)

Thanks :) I tried to make River as…balanced as I could considering she's an unbalanced psychopath in this story lol :) I've met a few people like that too. I once got the lead in a play in High School, I was only a sophomore, and ALL the seniors were really angry about that actually, because before the new director took over, it was always the seniors got the leads because of…well, seniority lol. So when he doled out the roles based on our auditions alone…it wasn't very pleasant, one senior girl who had auditioned for the lead and ended up as a minor role was very cruel and hateful to me just because she wanted the part and felt she deserved it, even though I'd never met her before :( So it's sort of like with Angel there. Some people can just be mean :( I agree about the having similar background and reacting differently, we'll actually see that come to light in this story actually ;) I'm very excited for all of River's 'past' with Angel to come about too so we can see everything that Angel's 'done to her' that makes her dislike her so much, quite a few twists planned for that too :) And you're very much right about how River sees Angel's attempts at kindness, to her she really doesn't think anyone could be so kind and that Angel's got an ulterior motive, either to flaunt that she's 'the better person' or to do what she does to make the Doctor fall more in love with her for being so kind. And it's no problem at all, I'm glad you're so interested in River's portrayal :) I'll admit, I'm a bit on the side where I feel like River almost manipulated him into a relationship, giving so many little clues and spoilers that really could only lead him to think they were in a relationship sort of…creating the future in a way. When I turned my volume up uber-loud at the whisper moment, I heard 'She's a bad girl' which I actually felt might fit since he calls River a bad girl (I believe) twice in the first episodes of Series 6 so it fit a bit :) But that's true, the Doctor is a little manipulative too, I do feel that the wedding was more a way to appease River and get her to 'kill him' since, only moments before he was adamantly saying he wouldn't marry her, it was too flip-flop for me to feel he really had feelings for her :/ Hmmm…another reason I wish Moffat had included more of what went on in the 200 year gap or something to sort of justify that :) I'd definitely consider a spin-off of the episodes River's in from her POV, that sounds very interesting, maybe even throw in a few chapters of her 'lessons' with the Silence ;) And thanks, I try to be open to reviews and suggestions, in a way, to me, it's not that they keep going on about hating Angel or something in the story but, I feel bad for them, because all it does is waste their time reading this story when they could read something they enjoy more :) I'd rather people enjoy the stories they read than suffer through ones they don't, so I never fault anyone for not continuing to read a story I write :)